Information Sought on Missing Boy

A $10,000 reward was offered Friday for information concerning the whereabouts of Robert Lee, 13, who disappeared Thursday while helping a customer at his family’s appliance store in Central Los Angeles.

Police said Lee, a native of Taiwan who came to the United States with his parents when he was 3 years old, was working at B I C Enterprises in the 400 block of South Los Angeles Street about noon when he left to help a Latino woman take some purchases to her car, which she said was parked about a block away.

He did not return, and a subsequent search of the neighborhood and interviews with neighboring business people gave no clues, police said. Officers said the youngster has never been reported missing before and relatives said he has never been a runaway.

The boy’s mother, Shiow Lee, said her son is about 5 feet, 2 inches tall, weighs 85 pounds, and was wearing a black jacket with white lining, gray-striped shirt and dark gray slacks when last seen.

She said the woman he was helping was about 5 feet, 6 inches tall and appeared to be in her late 30s or early 40s.